Novel therapy for the treatment of atrial fibrillation
Our heart beats 60 to 100 times per minute, around 42 million times per year. Disturbances of the heart’s rhythm – so called arrhythmia- occur frequently, in particular in older people. atrial fibrillation, the most common type of arrhythmia, typically represents with irregular palpitations, often associated with shortness of breath and anxiety attacks. Today, around 5-10 million patients in Europe suffer from atrial fibrillation and this number will further increase due to the demographic development. This growth is critical since the disease is associated with stroke, myocardial infarction and mortality. A major increase in its economic impact on public health systems is foreseeable.
Scientists of the Max-Delbrueck-Centrum for Molecular Medicine (MDC) Berlin-Buch –Dr. Wolf-Hagen Schunck, Dr. Dominik Müller and Dr. Robert Fischer et al. – identified in close collaboration with Dr. John Russel Falck from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (UTSW) a natural metabolite of fish oil omega-3 fatty acids, which can prevent the heart from arrhythmia.
Based on this discovery the team developed synthetic molecules with similar structure and systematically investigated their physiological function. The results are encouraging: OMT-33, one of the drug candidates, reduces arrhythmia like e.g. atrial fibrillation in different models significantly.
Limited options for drug therapy of atrial fibrillation and the high number of suffering patients together result in a very high unmet medical need for a safe and efficient new anti-arrhythmic drug. The market perspectives of novel drug developments are therefore excellent.
To follow their idea from basic research to market entry, the team founded OMEICOS Therapeutics as a spin-off company of the MDC on the BioTech-Campus Berlin-Buch. The start-up period was supported by know-how of MDC and Ascenion technology transfer managers and financial support from initiatives of the Helmholtz-Association (Helmholtz-Enterprise) and the MDC (MDC Pre Go-Bio).
OMEICOS is headed by the two CEOs Dr. Karen Uhlmann und Dr. Robert Fischer who bring into the company a broad expertise in the field of innovation management and clinical cardiology. Under their lead the company received a first Seed-financing of 500.000 Euro from High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF) and the Pro Fit program of the Investitionsbank Berlin.
“The medical need for the OMEICOS drug as a novel treatment of atrial fibrillation is immense. That’s why we are very excited to support with our investment the transition of the project from academic research to a start-up company” says Dr. Matthias Dill, responsible HTGF investment manager.
OMEICOS is currently raising a Series-A financing round for the preclinical development of an oral atrial fibrillation drug candidate ready for start of clinical testing in 2016.
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